Kenny Smith believes the NBA was right to heavily penalize the LA Clippers for salary cap circumvention. Labeling their actions as high-level cheating, Smith emphasized that forfeiting five first-round draft picks will cripple the franchise's development for years.
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Legendary point guard and member of the famous Inside the NBA Show lineup Kenny Smith admits the NBA went straight for the Los Angeles Clippers' neck, but he doesn't think the punishment was excessive.
Smith suggests that when you look at the context, the punishment wasn't excessive enough when you consider Steve Ballmer's team skirted the rules in a major way.
Kenny Smith gave a short statement about the consequences of salary cap circumvention around Kawhi Leonard in the interview with TMZ Sports
"You're vehemently cheating"
"You're gonna have to suffer consequences for that kind of behavior," Smith told TMZ.
"You're vehemently cheating. You're not just toeing the line. You're actually cheating and you're cheating at a high level."
"You're circumventing the salary cap. You're giving yourself an unfair advantage that no one else has, and you have to have severe penalties for that or other people will say, 'Well we can do it,'" Smith concluded.
Smith agreed that it will be tough in the future for the Clippers anyways as they won't have a first round pick from 2029 to 2033:
"It's gonna cripple their franchise possibly for the next five to seven years," Smith said, adding, "You take away five years of draft picks, that's your core of how you develop your team. So yeah, it's definitely tough," Smith concluded.
NBA fine to the Clippers for salary cap circumvention
Based on this misconduct, the NBA has imposed the following penalties:
The Clippers shall forfeit five first-round draft picks, one in each of the 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033 NBA Drafts.
The Clippers are fined $30 million.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is suspended from all league and team activities for one year for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities, for approving a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement agreement with Mr. Leonard, and for his failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.
Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker is suspended without pay for one year for being primarily and directly culpable for the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for providing false and misleading statements to investigators.
Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank is suspended without pay for six months for his involvement with the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for approving impermissible expenses incurred by Mr. Leonard and his family.
The Clippers organization and personnel are subject to a compliance and monitoring program overseen by the league office for a period of five years.
In connection with his violations, Mr. Leonard is required to pay the league $700,000.
Mr. Robertson is banned from conducting business or otherwise engaging with NBA teams and their affiliates on behalf of or with respect to any player, employee, or other league or team personnel for a period of five years.
The NBA and the NBPA have entered into an agreement confirming these penalties are final and binding on all parties.
Wachtell Lipton continues to receive information relevant to the investigation, and the league will consider further action as appropriate.
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